


Missions and Aurors

by ElizaHiggs



Series: Amused, Impressed, Smitten [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 5: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Canon Compliant, F/M, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-31 08:15:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6462712
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElizaHiggs/pseuds/ElizaHiggs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tonks is assigned a new partner | Tonks POV</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Whelp I was expecting this series to be a collection of one-shots, but this one was so long I decided to break it up a bit. Happy reading - please let me know what you think :)
> 
> I own none of these characters

After two months of Order meetings at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, she can avoid the umbrella stand nearly every time she walks into the ancient and most noble House of Black.   

She's rather too proud of this non-accomplishment, she thinks, but her clumsiness is particularly vicious when she's excited, and everything about the Order excites her: the _purposefullness_ of it all, the promise of action, the - intriguing members.

So she'll take her small triumphs where she can.

She's made a habit over the summer of coming early to meetings, to catch up with Sirius over a cup of tea, and if Remus happens to join them every once in a while, well, so much the better. Today, though, when she makes it to the kitchen, Sirius is sitting alone at the long table, with a cuppa and _The Daily Prophet_ , and he smirks when he sees the disappointment on her face.

"Moony'll be down in a bit," he reassures her, grinning over the rim of his mug. "He's having a bit of a lie down right now."

Is she so obvious? She decides that no response is best and pours herself a cup of tea in silence.

When Remus finally does enter the room, her heart beats so loudly she's sure he must hear it - she knows werewolves have heightened senses, and anyway it's calling his name: Re _mus_ -Re _mus_ -Re _mus_ -Re _mus_.  
  
"Wotcher, Remus," she greets him happily, but his own hullo is a bit subdued. _He_ looks subdued, she notices, and a little ill - and then she remembers that full moon is tomorrow, and that it's typical for werewolves to feel rather under the weather in the days before a transformation ( _How to Spot and Kill Dark Creatures_ was coming in handy, though perhaps not as the Auror Department had intended).

He pours himself a cup but doesn't sit at the table, leaning instead against the counter by the sink, eyes closed, inhaling the steam rising from the mug of steeping tea.

 _Full moon is tomorrow_ , she thinks again. Eight weeks ago, she's not sure she would've had the courage to enter the house so close to the lunar peak, and now her only reaction is a disappointment that he won't move closer.

And while she's was grateful that fear of the wolf has dissolved so quickly, she wasn't expecting fear to be replaced by this inexplicable, compulsive draw to the man himself.

Surely, wanting to run from someone on sight versus wanting to lean into them, close enough to inhale their scent - in this case, a blend of books and tea and something muskier - surely, these instincts were opposites of one another, and yet here she'd experienced both in breathless succession, and it's all she can do to force her body, so accustomed to _motion_ , to remain in her chair.

Finally, he comes to sit next to her - realizing, perhaps, that she has custody of the sugar, which he reaches for at the same moment she shoots her hand out to pass it to him, and their hands knock as she sends the sugar dish skittering across the table, and she inhales sharply, audibly.

In embarrassment she looks up at Remus, who has stiffened and is drawing his hand back in a slow, visible sort of way, like he's trying very hard not to frighten her, and she realizes with horror what he must be thinking her gasp has meant. "Sorry," he mutters, not looking at her.

For once she's grateful for her clumsiness; it's a useful cover. "No, no, Remus, that was my fault," she says, and places her hand on his retreating forearm, giving it an apologetic squeeze.

"No harm done," he says lightly, righting the sugar dish and its contents with a flick of his wand, and he's smiling again, and she takes her time removing her hand from his forearm and recognizes that the pull to him was there almost from the beginning, even before the fear had completely dissipated, and that perhaps the forces are not so opposing after all.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think there's anything in canon or on Pottermore that indicates whether or not Remus is (at this point) an unregistered werewolf, which seems unlikely after Snape outs him as a werewolf in POA. Apparently, in my headcanon, Remus is still an unregistered werewolf at this point, because Dumbledore is magic.
> 
> I own none of these characters.

"I was able to obtain the floor plans for the entire level of the Department of Mysteries," she says in her clear, auror voice, addressing the assembled Order members that evening. Dumbledore had a hunch that Voldemort might try and break into the Ministry to obtain a prophecy, the contents of which might advise him on how to kill Harry Potter and ensure his continued ascent to power (these objectives being somehow the same thing, but Tonks imagined only Dumbledore quite knew how). The plans she had obtained would make their efforts to guard the prophecy far more lucrative.

 They worked in pairs, keeping an eye on the Department of Mysteries by night, one Ministry employee paired with another Order member: Arthur with Molly, Kingsley with Emmeline. Each Ministry member needs a reliable backup who can be called on in an emergency. Tonks has been paired with Mad-Eye while she got her feet wet. And, she suspects, to give the others time to decide if they fully trust her.

Remus is the logical choice. Considering the availability of the others - Snape and McGonagall are at Hogwarts; Hagrid and Charlie Weasley are abroad; Sirius is homebound; Figg is a squibb; and Mundungus is an idiot - it's no secret that she's being groomed as Remus's primary partner, and she's eager to show him that she can do more than nicking maps and upsetting umbrella stands.

 She shakes off that train of thought and continues. "I took them from an office of a new hire there. I think Runcorn may have suspected something; he's a nasty piece of work. But I don't think he'll be able to pin it to me."

She passes the maps to Remus, who's taking notes for the strangely truant Dumbledore.

 "Well done," he rasps, smiling at her through his obvious full-moon-exhaustion, and she understands why Hermione and the other kids say he's the best Defense professor they've ever had; because clearly, his praise is everything. 

 Had she once craved the approval of Mad-Eye, of Kingsley? Madness.

 Kingsley is leading the meeting in Dumbledore's absence. "Excellent," he says, in his deep, steady voice. He looks for a second between Lupin and Tonks. “Remus, have you ever been inside the Ministry?”

 Remus shakes his head, _no_ , and Kingsley nods as if it’s no less than he's expected. It’s almost a silly question: of course an unregistered werewolf has avoided the Ministry. All of them do. “It’s time you were acquainted. Mad-Eye reports that Tonks is fully up to speed” – she shoots her mentor a grateful look – “so we can add another watch team to the rotation. If you’re amenable, Remus.”

Remus nods slowly, frowning slightly like he’s deep in thought, and she desperately hopes his lack of enthusiasm is due to a desire to avoid the Ministry altogether, and not a disappointment at being paired with the clumsy kid. 

(In retrospect, perhaps she shouldn't have made such good friends with the teenagers.)

 “Very good,” Kingsley continues, unaware or unperturbed by Remus's coldness. 

x 

They meet alone, at Headquarters, a few days after full moon, and this time Sirius has been banished to Buckbeak's room to give them time to orient themselves around one another. He's quiet again today, and not smiling, and she's nervous, sitting next to him at the table in the kitchen. It reminds her of the first time they met, but this time she's anxious that  _he_ might not trust  _her,_ and she begins to fear their previous ease with one another was somehow facilitated by Sirius and that now, alone, they might have nothing to say to one another.

 But there is a script of sorts to be followed, thanks to Mad-Eye, and learning to establish the identity of one's partner is - no surprise - the first order of business in the Gospel According to Moody (updated and revised edition). 

 To begin, there is a Weighing of the Wands, in miniature: they exchange wands and identifying details. She holds her breath as Remus turns her wand over in his hands. There's something very intimate about another person examining one's wand, a point that is not lost on her as watches Remus study hers; his own feels very steady in her hand. Her wand makes her feel, somehow, simultaneously very young and very old: this is the wand that chose her as an eleven-year-old child, the wand she first brought to Hogwarts and with which she cast her first spell. This is also an auror's wand, a wand that has brought Dark Wizards to justice.

 And Remus is holding it; running his fingers up and down the Holly.

It shouldn't surprise her that their wands are of the same materials; they've more in common than she think he'd like to admit, but whenever that topic had arisen in the past, he'd gone resolutely mute and dumb. As terrifying as she may have once found the idea of a werewolf, she's also never met another shapeshifter before, another person who others see as less-than-fully-human. There had been an inquiry at the Ministry, when she was in the first year of her auror training, about whether or not it was  _secure_ to have a metamorphmagus working in Magical Law Enforcement. It was Mad-Eye who'd stood up for her, pointing out how easy it was for her to verify her identity, and from then on she'd clung to him like a puppy, until the day he'd left to take up the vacant teaching position at Hogwarts where he had (understandably, in hindsight) not written to her. 

Hogwarts, where he'd gone to take over the DADA position for Remus. Who had nearly attacked a group of schoolchildren. Remus's abilities are not the kind he can control. So she understands that he doesn't want to talk about it.

That doesn't mean she's not disappointed, though. 

 They establish security questions, second. She already has one in place, all aurors use one routinely: her partner asks what her favorite hair color is; the correct response is for her to state, and then morph to, her preferred shade (to pink, or turquoise if already pink). Doubly secure, and damn near infallible. It's hard to impersonate a shapeshifter.

 His own identity as shapeshifter is a bit more nuanced the majority of the month. Remus has evidently developed a habit of rambling off a long list of personal stats: full name, age, blood status, etc., and the voice in her head that belongs to Mad-Eye rejects the use of anything so rote. She asks instead what form his Patronus takes, but he doesn't want to tell her and her frustration and unease get the better of her, and so she guesses aloud, before she can stop herself:

 "A wolf, then?"

 She sounds like a petulant child, disliking to be told _no_. He glances sideways at her, and she looks down in embarrassment. It's unfair, of course, to push him to divulge more information than he is comfortable with, simply because she is annoyed that he doesn't trust her. 

"I didn't say that," he says carefully, and his tone isn't angry, but it's neutral, distant. "Perhaps I am unable to conjure a corporeal Patronus."

 His calm fans her own irritation again. "Oh come off it," she says, "Harry told me you taught him the Patronus charm."

 "It's a personal question."

 "That's the idea."

 For all the weeks they've known each other now - including several nights of getting rather silly with Sirius over firewhiskey - she realizes she knows relatively little about him. Sirius likes to tell stories about their school days, of course, but Remus generally avoids reminiscing, and they've never discussed this thing they have in common. Her mind draws an embarrassing blank searching for other options.  

 He sighs and looks down at his hands, which are folded on the table. "Do we know each other so little?" he asks, like he can read her mind, and the question sounds a little melancholy. 

 "Perhaps I'll just ask if you're a werewolf," she says, still grumpy, and puts her chin down in her hand. "And then if you turn into Moaning Myrtle, I'll know it's you."

 To her surprise, he laughs, and when she looks up at him, it's like the clouds have cleared from his face. " _Moony,_ indeed, eh?" he jokes gently, and she returns his smile. 

 "Sorry," she says, glad to have smiling Remus back.

"No, I apologize," he continues in the warmer voice she normally associates with Remus. "That question would not normally bother me quite so much. I've been unhappy lately - I'd like very much never to have to set foot inside the Ministry, but I expect we're all going to be asked to do things we'd rather not; and you have a right to expect your partner to be forthcoming with you. I'm afraid my mood hasn't been helped by the timing of the moon." He smiles again at her, and she admires the row of straight white teeth and wonders when the thought of Remus _biting_ her became so appealing.

 "The umbrella stand," he says suddenly, and the smile morphs into a smirk worthy of Sirius.

 "Sorry?" she says again, confused.

 "Ask me what you always trip over when you come to Headquarters - the answer is 'umbrella stand'."

 She groans and flushes, but she laughs anyway and nods, and notes that being teased by Remus is as warming as firewhiskey. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew this was a difficult chapter for me to write - too much action. I generally prefer writing about inner dialogues and the various sources of Wizard Angst. 
> 
> But it was also fun, and I hope you enjoy. Angst is the upcoming (final?) installment of this series...
> 
> I own none of these characters.

Runcorn, she thinks, is an absolute creep.

She brings Remus to the Ministry as her guest. They go late, towards the tail end of the working day. Early enough that it's not suspicious, but late enough that most of her colleagues have already gone home. Bringing a friend to visit the Ministry is normal enough; employees like to bring friends and family to the Ministry, show them around. It's a pretty building. She'd known that her coworkers might make assumptions when she brought a single young man to the office, but, she figures, drawing a bit of misdirected attention to herself for reasons other than her involvement with the Order couldn't hurt. 

They run into Runcorn in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement on Level Two, where she's brought Remus to show him where her and Kingsley's offices are located. He sneaks up behind them, because he enjoys catching people off guard. And being creepy.  

"Auror Tonks," he says from behind her, and it's like his voice is touching her neck and her blood boils instantaneously. She hates the way he says her title as if he's being sarcastic, as if her being an  _auror_ were some fantastic joke that only he was in on. "What have you dragged into the Ministry today?" 

"None of your business, Runcorn," she says, not stopping, and thinks  _Remus please just keep walking, please don't look at him...._  


"I'd say it's very much my business if you're going to be herding Dark Creatures into the Ministry," he smirks, and now she does stop, and it takes all of her self-control not to reach for her wand. She turns towards Runcorn but doesn't dare look up at Remus. "I suppose this does explain some of your odd behavior lately," he continues, taking advantage of the abandoned hallway to look her up and down in the way he wouldn't dare if colleagues were present. "And here I was thinking you were becoming a bit too chummy with Arthur Weasley..." 

She thanks Merlin that Remus has enough sense not to open his mouth and make things worse. "Go away, Runcorn," she says in her fiercest voice.

Runcorn turns his eyes on Remus instead. "Well, werewolf?" he says coldly. "Not going to defend your little girlfriend?"

She holds her breath. She'd forgotten that people might know who Remus is.

But Remus obviously hasn't, and when she sneaks a glance at his face, his expression is impassive. "My impression has been that aurors have no problem defending themselves," Remus responds calmly, politely.

Runcorn smiles tightly and turns to leave. "I have my eye on you, Auror Tonks," he says, and strides away, and when he's no longer in sight she drags Remus into Kingsley's abandoned office in Auror Headquarters. She shuts the door behind them so she can ball her hands into fists and let the anger come out of her. 

"That - absolute - _arsehole_ ," she curses viciously. 

Beside her, Remus sighs. "I was worried my presence might make things difficult," he says. 

She shakes her head but doesn't meet his eyes. "It's not you. He doesn't trust me anyway."

"Because he suspects you're in league with Dumbledore?" he probes, but she shakes her head again. 

"It's not that either. He led the inquiry against me when I joined the aurors," she mutters unhappily, and when Remus looks at her in confusion, she clarifies: "Because I'm a metamorphmagus." 

"Ah," he says understandingly, and she recognizes the emotion in his tone of voice.

Empathy.

He pauses another moment, and then says, "He looks at you - strangely."

She starts a bit, and looks up at Remus. For all his terrible experience, his sporadic innocence is so remarkable that she wonders again just how removed he has been his adult life. "Well, yes," she says slowly, wondering how much, if any, she really wants to explain. "I'm a metamorphmagus - and he's a man. And a creep."

She smiles as the look of confusion on Remus's face changes to one of disgust. "That's..." he struggles for words and settles for taking a comforting step towards her. "Terrible," he finally finishes.

She shrugs. "Thanks." She's not sure she wants to get into the topic of Wizards Being Creepy About Metamorphmagi with him. But she likes that he's standing a bit closer to her. In an abandoned office.

Just as she's weighing the pros and cons of taking advantage of their solitude, of asking him, perhaps, if he'd like to stop by Diagon Alley for a drink on the way home from the mission, he steps back again and looks away. 

"Do you..." he looks down at her, trails off, and then clear his throat and tries again. "Do you - get that a lot? Not just from men, but from people - about your abilities?"

"Yes," she says simply. "Shapeshifters are never fully trusted, are we?" 

He responds with a soft, sad smile that nonetheless feels genuine. 

"C'mon, let's get moving," she says. "We need to make sure you can find your way to the Department of Mysteries from here." 

x

She takes Remus down into the Department of Mysteries, on Level Nine. They easily navigate their way to the Hall of Prophecy without being noticed (thanks to the maps she's stolen) and back again. Arthur is on guard duty tonight; the better for her to get Remus out of the Ministry before they arouse suspicions. They move back into the long hall, making their way again for the lift, but she stops abruptly.

From down the long hall, she sees a figure moving towards them, and all at once she realizes Runcorn has followed them. 

"Oh no," she mutters, but her mind is already out-running her. Remus has frozen next to her, and she knows he's seen Runcorn too. She leans in and instructs him quietly, "When he gets within firing distance, draw your wand like you're going to throw a curse, and then hold off." 

He looks back at her like she's gone mental; his jaw has gone slightly slack. "But - Tonks, he'll respond to a direct threat - "

She shakes her head. "It's okay, I'm a faster draw," she says, looking down and adjusting her auror robes, ensuring that her wand is an easy grab away. 

His eyes follow her hands to the front of her robes, where the handle of her wand is just visible. As - she notes fleetingly - is her cleavage in the low-cut undershirt she's worn today. She looks up at him again, and he's still watching her suspiciously. She huffs impatiently. They don't have time for him to decide whether or not this is a good idea. "Remus, do you trust me?" she whispers urgently, dropping her hands from her robes. 

He pauses for just one beat - and then something in his eyes solidifies and he nods, once. "Yes," he whispers in response. 

As Runcorn draws nearer them, she keeps her eyes fixed on his approaching figure, but watches Remus carefully out of the corner of her eye. She has to react in time, but Runcorn cannot see her draw her wand. Dumbledore can afford to cover up for Remus (again) if something goes awry; the Order cannot risk her losing her position at the Ministry. 

Remus draws his wand so fast and so convincingly that for a second, she's worried Remus is actually going to curse the man, but he waits instead for Runcorn to draw his own, and she shouts "STUPEFY!" in the split second in which Runcorn is distracted. 

They levitate Runcorn back up to his own office on the second floor, where she sets his floppy body down in his chair and puts his arms and head down on his own desk. She places the tip of her wand at Runcorn's temple and summons the control needed for a memory charm that's not  _too_ powerful. 

"Tonks, he'll _know_ he's been Obliviated..." Remus protests reasonably, but she shakes her head and moves to the sideboard she knows is stocked with firewhiskey and grabs a bottle and a rock glass. She splashes a bit of the firewhiskey into the glass and then knocks it over on the desk in front of him, soaking a stack of inter-office memos, and she vanishes the rest of the liquid in the bottle and sets it down next to the glass on the desk.

"Runcorn has a nasty habit of getting blasted in the office," she explains, stepping back to admire the scene she's set. "With a little luck, he'll assume the Obliviation fog is just the beginnings of a hangover. It was an easy-handed charm; shouldn't erase more than an hour or two." 

Remus has gone silent again, and when she looks up, he's watching her closely.

"Well done," he says, for the second time, but this time he sounds less like Professor addressing Gifted Student and more like Remus addressing Tonks. 

"Cheers," she says, smiling broadly.

In that moment, she's aware that she wants Remus to kiss her. He doesn't kiss her, of course - he doesn't say anything, but nods in response, and continues watching her with that curious expression that's somehow thoughtful and attentive, like he's - actually impressed.

They aren't risking the Floo Network, so she leaves him at the Apparition point, just beyond the gates of the Ministry.

As she winks her goodbye and turns away, she's glowingly aware that she cuts an impressive figure in flowing red auror robes and midnight blue hair, and if she stumbles ever so slightly when she takes the curb, it's a fair price to pay for Remus's admiration. She glances back over her shoulder and sees just before he vanishes that he's laughing at her, and her world is right again.


End file.
